The community will soon have a way to speak in a small group setting with Selma Mayor Darrio Melton.

The mayor recently announced his plans to have Mondays with the Mayor, a time for people to come together and discuss the latest City Hall projects and share their concerns about how the city can grow and improve.

“It’s important that people feel like they have access to the mayor’s office,” Melton said. “I just want to give them an opportunity that they can get to know me, and I can get to know the citizens better.”

Melton said the Mondays with the Mayor will allow set aside scheduled time each month to make sure he can hear from citizens.

“We are meeting every day on the hour, on the minute almost, trying to get things done for the city. Many times, it may be difficult to have that personal time with citizens,” Melton said. “We have department heads to hear issues and complaints, but this gives people an opportunity to know that I hear their concerns.”

The meetings will take place on the first Monday of each month and will change formats occasionally to give everyone a chance to be heard. The first meeting will take place Monday, April 3 at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library from 10-11 a.m. and will be a town-hall style question and answer session.

Future meetings may give residents an opportunity to meet with the mayor one-on-one for individual appointments, or they might include guests from various city departments and community organizations.

“We just love to hear what people have to say. We’re asking people to come for productive dialog,” Melton said. “We’re looking for ways that we can work together and hear people’s concerns, hear their complaints and see what ways they can be involved in the city.”

Melton typically does Facebook Live sessions every Friday at noon, although the times sometimes vary depending on the circumstances.

Melton said he has more ideas that he hopes to implement soon to keep the community involved and up to date on everything the city is doing.

“We’ll talk about ways people can be more involved in the city, and we want people to be involved in the city,” Melton said. “It’s not about those of us that are in office, it’s about all of us.”

For more information about the monthly Monday meetings, visit the city of Selma’s website at www.selma-al.gov.